More WA school students wear tattoos than their interstate colleagues, according to results from the recently-conducted CensusAtSchools project.

More than 2700 schools around Australia, and 294 in WA, took part in the on-line census.

The project was initiated by the Australian Bureau of Statistics earlier in the year to give students an introduction to statistics, with a view to raising awareness of the National Census on 8 August.

Seven per cent of WA students said they had tattoos, compared to four per cent nationally.

However, when it comes to music, wearing ear rings and dying their hair, it seems WA students are on a par with the rest of the country, though rap music doesn’t rate as highly in WA.

Only 62 per cent of WA students said rap was their favourite type of music, compared to 66 per cent nationally. When it came to rock, the count was just about even, with 56 per cent of WA students listing it as their main

“Basically, it shows kids are kids,” said the Director of the WA Census Management Unit Dave Roarty.

“The CensusAtSchools project was a way to get students interested in statistics and to show how relevant they can be.

“We had more than 15,000 students in WA take part, so it was pretty successful.”

Students at some schools are now using the date to do statistic-based exercises in which they compare their results with other areas.